HIGHLIGHTS: Pair Says Originally Planned to Assassinate Musharraf||Pair Attacked Fast Food Chains||Pair Members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Almi Organization,|| STORY: Two Pakistanis allegedly linked to Afghanistan's Taliban admitted Monday that they were behind last month's car bomb attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi as well as a string of other attacks. The pair, paraded by Pakistan paramilitary Rangers before a news conference in Karachi, said they had originally planned to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in late April, but their car bomb had failed to detonate. (Read photo caption)

Instead, they detonated the bomb outside the U.S. consulate on June 14, killing 12 people and seriously wounding over 20.

"I, along with my other friends, were involved in the U.S. bombing," Mohammad Hanif told the news conference. "We acted in consultation. One of our friends, who was willing to be a suicide bomber, carried out the attack."

Major-General Salahuddin, head of the paramilitary Pakistan Ranger force investigating the blast, told the news conference that Hanif and two colleagues had also been responsible for attacks on Western targets such as fast-food chains.

"We were able to nab three main culprits. They were involved in this consulate bombing," he said.

He said those arrested were members of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Almi organization, a group said to have close links to the Taliban, the movement ousted by the U.S.-led coalition following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The faction is also reported to have links to separatists fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen has long been on a blacklist of organizations deemed "terrorist" by the United States.

The three arrested in Karachi included the al-Almi offshoot group's head, Mohammad Imran, who was also paraded at the news conference. Mohammad Hanif was the deputy head and chief of the militant wing, while the third man was named as Mohammad Ahmed.

"Since 1988, I have been involved in jihad (holy struggle) in Kashmir and Afghanistan," Imran said.

Both Imran and Hanif, wearing traditional shalwar kameez attire and sporting full beards, appeared confident during the news conference and were not restrained -- although they were escorted by heavily-armed rangers.

Salahuddin said authorities had recovered a substantial quantity of weapons and ammunition, and that the organization's network had been seriously disrupted.

PHOTO CAPTION

Mohammad Imran (L) and Mohammad Hanif, members of the banned Islamic militant Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group, are escorted by Pakistani soldiers in Karachi July 8, 2002. The two were arrested over a series of deadly bomb attacks including one last month on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, the head of the investigating force said. (Akbar Baloch/Reuter